


keep him warm

by sunnynana



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, Winter, really not much plot just a dork and a sassy boy dating, renjun is learning how to love, soft, winter nights and fire and coffee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29372697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnynana/pseuds/sunnynana
Summary: Despite being new to being in love, Renjun promises to keep his boyfriend warm.(Basically, Renjun has been loved before, but he's never loved someone back. His dorky boyfriend Sungchan is just find with that, being more than willing to help him navigate the unfamiliar roads of love. Along the ride, they keep each other warm.)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Jung Sungchan
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	keep him warm

**Author's Note:**

> hii, this is something i was randomly inspired by because of a certain picture of renjun. it's pretty dialogue heavy also. anyway i hope it's alright enjoy! :D (also there's some weird spacing at the very end but i did that on purpose for dramatic effect)

“You look cute in that sweater.”

Renjun rolls his eyes. “You’ve been saying that all night.” 

“Yeah, and I could keep saying it for the rest of the night. I could say it all day tomorrow, I could say it all day on Tuesday, I could say it all week, I could—” 

“Okay, I get it, you think I’m cute. I think you’re cute and hot and all that too, but you don’t see me saying it all day long to embarrass you!”

The smirk on Sungchan’s face doesn’t falter. If anything, it only becomes more prominent as Renjun continues glaring at him as if he isn’t blushing so obviously that Sungchan can see it in the darkness of the night sky. It could be the light from the fire pit that illuminates Renjun’s endearingly frowny face so brightly that Sungchan can see the blush on his cheeks, but Sungchan also likes to believe that he blushes so easily that the red tiny can be seen through darkness.

“I don’t embarrass easily,” Sungchan points out, leaning back against the cushioned rooftop railing, arms and legs spread apart in that confident sitting position that Renjun thinks looks so cool. “So, it wouldn’t matter if you said it all day everyday to me or not.” 

Sungchan wasn’t lying when he said he could call Renjun cute all week. He could easily call Renjun cute all day on Tuesday just like he said, but tonight is only Saturday, and he figures Renjun probably wouldn’t be able to handle being called cute for so many days straight, so he decides to put that topic aside for now as he watches his boyfriend pick up three empty solo cups off the black wicker table he’s standing by. 

“I’ll help you clean up later, just chill out with me,” Sungchan says, voice soft as he tries to convince his boyfriend to take a break from standing up. He’s been standing for hours at this point. Since the party started earlier that evening, Renjun had been on his feet making sure all of his guests were satisfied and having fun. He also made small talk with as many of his friends as possible.

Because of Renjun’s goal of being a perfect rooftop party host, Sungchan spent quite a bit of time on his feet as well. 

He had let his much smaller lover drag him around from friend group to friend group, and he felt so proud of himself as Renjun talked him up in front of his friends. They’ve been together for a solid ten months now, but hearing Renjun introduce him to people as his boyfriend made his chest swell up with pride. 

Now, at almost midnight, Sungchan wants nothing more than for his boyfriend to sit down and take a break. He wants Renjun to sit down and enjoy the scenery — the city lights and the bright moon providing light for the otherwise pitch-black sky. He wants him to sit next to him, or on his lap, or anywhere remotely near him and enjoy the warmth of the fire. 

He also just realized that he wants Renjun to wear a coat.

“Babe,” he says before Renjun can reply to his plea for him to sit down, “You should really be wearing a coat. It’s freezing out here.” 

“I’m wearing a sweater,” Renjun refutes as he makes his way to a recycling bin to get rid of the cups in his arms. 

“A sweater that’s not warm enough when you’ve been standing in the cold for hours!” Sungchan argues, raising his voice slightly when Renjun is farther away from him. 

He returns from the recycling bin quickly, much to Sungchan’s excitement, and the tall boy opens his arms and smiles expectantly. 

Renjun quirks an eyebrow, placing a hand on his hip sassily as he studies his boyfriend’s cute but goofy expression. 

“You want a hug?” Renjun asks, but the answer is obvious.

Sungchan nods. “I also want you to put a coat on.” 

Renjun rolls his eyes, but he finally gives his giant boyfriend what he wants when he walks towards him and climbs onto his lap. He lays against Sungchan’s chest, letting his arms flop uncomfortably at his sides as he lets himself become weightless on his boyfriend. 

“I don’t need a coat,” Renjun insists, “You should be able to keep me warm enough.” 

Sungchahn chuckles, wrapping his arms around his small boyfriend. “You’re right. I can keep you warmer than any coat or any fire pit.” 

Renjun puffs out a loud sigh, feeling himself deflate as every breath flows out of his mouth as if it had been waiting to leave his body all night, which it probably had been, given the fact that Renjun hadn’t given himself a chance to relax since the party began hours ago.

“You always do,” he says, fully relaxing against Sungchan. 

“I’m glad, shorty,” Sungchan presses a quick, dry kiss on the top of Renjun’s head, and everything is peaceful until the aforementioned “shorty” lets out a whine and sits up in Sungchan’s lap. 

“Don’t call me that!” Renjun complains, Sungchan unable to hold back his giggles at the sight of the small and angry fox that is his boyfriend. “You always call me short at the worst times, like when we’re trying to be all cute and stuff…” he pauses, wrapping his arms around himself and jutting his bottom lip out in a dramatic pout. He continues with a whine of, “It’s such a mood killer!” 

“On the contrary, I think it’s more of a mood _enhancer_ , not this so-called ‘mood killer’ of yours,” says Sungchan, grinning the way Renjun finds so annoying yet so adorable, “You see, you’re complaining that I always call you short when we’re being cute so that ruins the mood. However, my counterargument is that your shortness and smallness is cute, so it fits the cute theme you’re going for. Therefore, me calling you short does not kill the mood. It adds to it.” 

Renjun narrows his eyes and furrows his brows. “Why are you talking like an essay?” 

“Gets my point across, Renjun. Doesn’t my vocabulary make you want to agree with me?” 

“No, it makes me want to get back up and continue cleaning all the trash my friends left up here,” Renjun mutters. He’s clearly annoyed, and he _sounds_ annoyed at Sungchan, but both the boys on the rooftop know very well that his annoyance is directed at some of the party guests that got apparently too drunk to clean up after themselves.

“No cleaning,” says Sungchan, “You’re staying on my lap and letting me hug you for exactly five minutes until you can clean again. I need to warm you up.” 

Renjun grins and raises a brow. “There’s a burning fire right there,” he turns his head a little and nods in the direction of the fire pit before turning to face. He faces Sungchan again, “That can keep me warm while I—”

“No!’ Sungchan complains, “We just established that I could keep you warmer than any fire could, and you agreed. Don’t take my warmth powers away from me just like that.” 

Renjun wants so badly to roll his eyes, but he can’t bring himself to do it, especially not while a sweet, genuine laugh is escaping his mouth. 

“You’re a dork,” he says, his fingers finding their way to the black hoodie beneath Sungchan’s open winter coat, playing with the drawstrings of said hoodie. The hoodie is covered by a white sweater, and Renjun makes a mental note that Sungchan is very serious about the whole concept of staying warm. 

“A dork you’d like to be hugged by right now? Please?” 

“Fine,” Renjun finally gets to roll his eyes like he wanted to, but the action contradicts the unmistakably fond smile on his face. “But don’t call me shorty this time, okay?” 

“Fine, fine,” Sungchan sighs dramatically, wrapping his arms around Renjun and gently lowering him to lay on his chest like he did before. “But to be fair, I didn’t kill the mood. I called you shorty at a very appropriate time.”

Renjun doesn’t see a point in arguing anymore. He likes to tell himself that Sungchan is the clear loser in the argument, but both him and Sungchan know deep down that it’s because Renjun is the true loser. Nobody can argue against Sungchan for too long. All of his points are such convoluted reaches that they surprisingly make total sense, and who can argue with something that makes total sense? 

Renjun mentally admits to himself that he can’t, so he accepts his role as a shorty. 

Another comfortable silence falls over the atmosphere, save for the noises of car engines from the streets below them and the occasional plane that flies overhead. 

From his place on Sungchan’s lap, Renjun looks over his shoulder at the rooftop across from the one they’re on. He takes in the sight of a party, one that looks similar to the party he hosted, but a much more lively and intense version. These people are louder, rowdier, and from what Renjun could make out from across the street, they seem less responsible. The fact that they’re partying so late in the first place makes that easier for Renjun to believe. 

As he watches the rooftop party that doesn’t seem to show any signs of stopping, not even as the rest of the city is starting to wind down, Renjun decides that he would much rather be doing what he’s doing. 

Hugging his boyfriend in the comforting almost-silence of their privacy, which he’s very glad is not being interrupted by someone else coming up to the roof. 

His party was fun, sure, but he’s thankful to be spending the rest of his night just like this. 

Sitting in by the fire pit that is no match for the warmth his boyfriend gives him. 

He’s thankful to have Sungchan keeping him warm all the time, but he frowns to himself when he reminds himself that he needs to work on keeping Sungchan warm too.

It’s almost as if a very quiet Sungchan has just read his thoughts when he breaks the silence with the question of, “You know you keep me warm too, right?” 

He asks in a tone that sounds expectant, as if he wants Renjun to answer affirmatively. 

Renjun can’t bring himself to do so. It would feel like a lie, and he would never lie to Sungchan. It wouldn’t be fair to lie to him about anything after the tall boy has been so patient with Renjun for the past several months. 

“No,” Renjun admits in a sigh of defeat. 

Sungchan frowns at that, gently nudging Renjun and urging him to sit up, to which he complies. 

Renjun sits up and looks his boyfriend in the eyes, self-disappointment evident in his expression 

“You don’t think you keep me warm?” Sungchan asks, “You… you know what I mean when I say that, right? Like, you know I don’t mean it in a literal sense when I say it like that?” 

Renjun nods. He knows exactly what his boyfriend means. 

While Sungchan is concerned about the warmth of himself and Renjun — especially of Renjun, who isn’t wearing a coat — but he also wants the smaller one to know that he makes Sungchan feel loved. 

That’s something that Renjun often needs to be reminded of. He has never ‘kept someone warm’ before, metaphorically speaking, and many of his insecurities come from his newness to showing love to someone romantically. 

Renjun has been loved.

He’s tried to love back. 

But he’s never successfully loved someone back. He’s never known how to show it, and the one time he tried to show it before Sungchan, he wound up psyching himself out and running from the one he thought he loved before they could even try to convince him to stay. 

He would often say that he doesn’t know how to love back. Sungchan doesn’t believe him. Ever since he met Renjun he thought he had every loving quality a person could have. He just needs a little help to see that himself. 

It’s a cliche in the eyes of many, but Sungchan has decided that he is teaching Renjun how to love. 

Well, he’s teaching him how to realize that he already _knows_. And Sungchan feels like the luckiest man on Earth to be the one Renjun learns with. He takes pride in the fact that someday, he could be referred to as the guy who taught a sweet boy from Jilin how to love. 

“I know what you mean,” Renjun confirms shyly, absentmindedly biting his nails as he looks at Sungchan with an almost guilty expression. “I mean, _I hope_ I do that for you, but you know how I get… sometimes I just—” 

“You do do that for me,” Sungchan asserts, eyes filled with the longing to get through to Renjun as he gazes intently into his eyes. “You keep me warm more than you think you do, I promise.” 

“I…” Renjun looks down. “I wanna believe you.” 

“You can believe me.” 

Renjun lets out the quietest gasp he has in him when Sungchan’s ironically cold hand takes a tender grip on his chin. Sungchan slowly tilts Renjun’s head up to make the boy meet his eyes again. 

It’s not often that Sungchan gets very firm or intense with him. In fact, Renjun would go as far to say that he never gets like that, at least not in an intimidating way, but the tall boy doesn’t shy away from being serious when the time is right. 

Especially when it comes to getting Renjun to understand that he does keep Sungchan warm. 

“Want me to prove it?” he asks before Renjun can say anything.

It takes a second, but a grin slowly replaces the unreadable look on his face. Sungchan smiles at that, knowing that a few simple words brought his usual somewhat mischievous Renjun back. 

“No offense, but how are you gonna prove it? Your hand is literally freezing,” Renjun sasses, taking Sungchan by the wrist and pulling his boyfriend’s hand off his chin. “Not really helping your case, is it?” 

“Okay— maybe my hands are still cold, but what really matters is how warm my heart is, alright?” 

“I don’t know… that might just be the flames from the actual fire right there,” Renjun shrugs and points at the firepit. 

Sungchan frowns. “Just accept the fact that you are hotter than any fire in existence.” 

Renjun raises a brow. “Uh, I don’t think that’s what this conversation is about.” 

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?” Renjun challenges with a snarky tone, trying to hold back the giggle that wants to come out. 

“I guess you don’t,” Sungchan jokes, sighing dramatically. “So let me enlighten you.”

His hands find their way to Renjun’s hips where they rest while Sungchan gives his boyfriend his intentful gaze again, the one that shows Renjun how much he means what he says. He lowers his voice for serious effect and continues, “I mean that you’re the love of my life, alright? You keep me the warmest. Like, yeah, you’re hot in a cute sexy way—”

Renjun snorts. 

“—but what I meant is that I can feel your love for me so easily that it feels like… actually hot. Like, fire. Like—”

“I understand, I think. You’re just saying that I keep you warm… whatever this weird metaphor you just made up is.” 

“Precisely,” Sungchan nods, grinning proudly. “You’re the love of my life, you know?” 

Renjun’s eyes widen at how casually Sungchan can say things like that, and at the realization that Sungchan just might be the love of his life too. 

“I… I think you’re the love of my life, too,” Renjun admits in a hushed tone. 

Sungchan gasps in excitement, and although it sounds dramatic, he means every bit of happiness that comes with the noise. 

“You have no idea how much warmer those words just made me feel,” he fake-sobs, wiping a fictitious tear from below his eye. 

The giggle that had been waiting to come out finally escapes Renjun, and his smile absolutely lights up Sungchan’s world.

(Or, warms his heart, but Sungchan figures saying either of those things out loud would be too cheesy for Renjun. His boyfriend seems to be in a good mood with minimal sass levels, but he decides not to risk it.)

“You’ve gotta stop with this warm-hot-fire metaphor. We were talking about actual temperature earlier and now I’m just… confused.” 

“Fine, I’ll stop. Usually, I’d keep doing it just to bother you, but since you just called me the love of your life I am now willing to do anything you want.” 

“Anything I want?” Renjun perks up at that. “Well, I want coffee right now. I’m so tired from the party.” 

“Uh, if you’re tired you should _sleep_. It’s already late, anyway.” 

“But it’s not too late for convenience store coffee, is it?” Renjun points out, and he's right, but Sungchan would much rather sleep. Renjun continues with a complaint of, “But I don’t wanna sleeeeep.”

Sungchan wants to argue, wants to point out that Renjun said himself that he’s tired, but he can’t do it, not after the boy just referred to him as the love of his life with a surprising amount of confidence for him. 

So, he sighs out of fondness and defeat.

“Fine, let’s go get some coffee,” he says, prompting Renjun to ease off his lap. He stands up himself, and before Renjun can get too far away from him, he makes the sudden decision to wrap an arm around his waist and pull him closer. 

“Hey! What the—” 

“On one condition,” Sungchan adds to his statement from before, “we can get coffee only if you wear my big coat.

Renjun narrows his eyes, but he obliges with reluctance, mumbling under his breath something that sounds to Sungchan like the word “fine, whatever.” 

Sungchan smiles and takes his long, white coat off to put it on Renjun, Renjun says, “Aren’t you gonna be cold now though?” 

Sungchan waves dismissively, helping Renjun put the coat on to further push his Renjun Warmth Agenda. 

“I’m already wearing a sweater over a hoodie. I’ll be fine,” he insists. “Besides, I’m supposed to keep you warm, aren’t I?”  
And Renjun nods, “Sure.

But shouldn’t I be learning how to keep you warm, too?”

**Author's Note:**

> yeah this isn't my best work but i tried TT thanks for reading if you did!!
> 
> twt and cc: 11NADIUM


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